Burnadine Kinsey
BY LEEANN SHELTON
Sun-Times Media
A man was sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison Tuesday after he admitted to helping his friend hide the body of 49-year-old Burnadine Kinsey in a West Side apartment in 2013.
Juan Ramos, 38, pleaded guilty to one count of concealing a homicidal death and Judge Thomas Gainer Jr. sentenced him to 42 months in prison, according to court records.
Authorities said Benjamin Esquivel had sex with Kinsey then stabbed her to death after a fight, wrapped her in a sheet and hid her in his closet in the 4400 block of West Wilcox Street in August 2013.
Esquivel then called Ramos and asked for advice on how to dispose of the body, prosecutors said. Surveillance cameras at an area Home Depot caught the two buying tarps, duct tape, rubber gloves and a Sprite.
Ramos helped Esquivel, 22, wrap Kinsey’s body in the tarp and duct taped her head, torso and feet before putting her back into a closet in Esquivel’s home, prosecutors claim.
Esquivel and Ramos were out looking for dump sites when a relative found the body in the apartment three days later and called police, authorities said.
Prosecutors claimed Kinsey — a grandmother and mother — was a prostitute, but her family insisted she spent her days taking care of her diabetic amputee younger brother.
Ramos, of the 2000 block of North Lamon Avenue, was given credit for 526 days spent in jail since his arrest, according to court records.
Esquivel is awaiting trial on charges of murder, armed robbery and concealing a homicidal death, court records show. He will next appear in court Dec. 1.